“Are you checking up on me?” Emily demanded in an embarrassed whisper.

“I just want to talk to you for a minute.”

“Here?” Emily glanced around as if she feared everyone had seen her talking with her older sister. Heaven forbid!

“If you don’t want to be seen with me, we could go outside,” Kat suggested, only half-serious.

Emily took her arm and steered her out of the arcade. “That was so embarrassing.”

“Being seen with your sister?” Kat said, trying to remember when she was a teen if she acted this weirdly.

“What do you want?”

“For starters, why aren’t you in school?”

Emily rolled her eyes. “I told you last week that we were getting out early today.”

Kat raised an eyebrow.

“You never believe anything I tell you.”

Kat didn’t want to argue. “I was just having lunch with Claire and I had a thought. I know you’re looking for a job this summer before college.” Another eye roll. “I was thinking, I could use someone to do filing and other things around my office.”

“You aren’t serious?” Em looked aghast.

“Well, I just thought—”

“That has to be the most boring job…I can find my own job, thank you. A job where I don’t have you looking over my shoulder the entire time.” Emily let out an exasperated sigh. “As if…” She started to turn and go back into the arcade.

“If you change your mind—”

“Yeah, right,” Emily said, and disappeared back inside.

Kat stood on the sidewalk for a moment, watching her kid sister through the arcade window. She and Emily hadn’t shared the same mother. But they shared some of the same problems. Emily’s mother had taken off when Emily was about nine, leaving their father and Kat to finish raising the girl. Their mothers had been a lot alike, it seemed. Only, Kat’s hadn’t left town—just left her young daughter home with her aging grandmother so Leslie could see other men while Kat’s father was at sea.

Kat went back to work but had trouble concentrating. Still no e-mail from Ross. She couldn’t keep her mind on business, her mind wandering to Claire and the fortune-teller and her mystery date. Nor could she seem to shake the uneasy feeling she’d had since last night. She remembered the devil tarot card. Temptation and fear, huh?

She glanced toward the daisies, still trying to imagine what it was about them that bothered her. All she needed was for Arabella to stop by now with another one of her warnings and her day would be complete.

Kat was almost glad for an excuse to leave the office and walk down to Threads for her fitting. The day was warm and clear, the smell of the sea mixing with all the scents of Waterfront Avenue—from the herbs and oils of the witchcraft shops to the corn dogs and cotton candy of the street vendors. There was an excitement in the air that was contagious, as if the whole town was counting down to Memorial Day weekend and the upcoming anniversary festivities.

For the first time all day, Kat felt a little better. The groups of tourists made her feel safe, the fresh air chasing away the darkness of the dream—and the events of last night. She hardly even looked for her mystery man in the faces she passed.

But half an hour later, her good mood vanished when Claire didn’t show. Kat tried calling her at home. No answer. Had she decided to do what the fortune-teller had told her? Had she gone to the cemetery, a place that terrified her friend and could set back the progress she’d made?

As she left the shop, Kat realized she had just enough time to make her appointment with Bud Lawson at his curio shop off Main. From the looks of the place, it had obviously been kids who’d vandalized the shop. Bud was still cleaning up when she got there.

“Any idea who they might have been?” Kat asked.

“Same ones that have been hitting all the shops,” he said with disgust. “You can bet Dodie and Razz were in on it, but how are you going to prove it? And even if you could, they’ll just get their hands slapped. Someone needs to do something about those hellions.”

Kat knew he had reason to be angry, but still, that kind of talk worried her since there was no proof that Dodie and Razz were behind the vandalism.

Back at her office, she made out her report for the insurance company, trying to keep her mind off everything but work. It proved impossible. She found herself calling Claire’s number every hour on the hour, but still no answer. Neither Elizabeth nor Brie had seen her. Both told Kat not to worry. But they hadn’t seen the look on Claire’s face after talking to the fortune-teller. Did her friend want a quick cure to her pain? Who wouldn’t?

When Kat checked her e-mail, she was relieved to see one from Ross, her real online blind date. Her relief was short-lived when she read it though, and realized he hadn’t left the daisies.

Flowers? Me? Way too traditional. Try date again? Witch’s Brew? Coffee? Meet at your office? 7? Ross.

A man of few words. A cup of coffee at seven at night? She thought about her mystery date last night and the quiet, romantic window table at the Moriah’s Landing Inn, and shuddered as she e-mailed Ross back: